Kilmoyle pupil tells her joke in Parliament Buildings

Over 2,000 pupils entered this year’s competition which returned to Parliament Buildings for the final.

Five year old Katrina Nicholl from Kilmoyle Primary was invited to tell her joke:

Why did the boy eat his computer? Because it was an apple

Twenty of the funniest jokes were selected for the live grand final where Lily took home the title of 2016 Voice Box Champion and won an iPad mini.

Speaker Mitchel McLaughlin MLA said: “It was wonderful to bring this event back to Parliament Buildings for a fourth time. Since taking on the role of Speaker I have been acutely aware of the fundamental role that communication plays in all aspects of this Assembly.This event offered a valuable platform to raise awareness of the importance of good speech, language and communication skills for future success in educational attainment and gave all school children an opportunity to practise these skills in a fun and exciting competition.”

Vivienne Fitzroy, RCLST Northern Ireland Policy Officer said: “This popular event has been a great success in previous years, with fantastic engagement between pupils and their elected representatives. We provided schools with an online toolkit where they found the resources they needed to run their own Voice Box heat. The toolkit contained everything from posters to put up around the school and certificates for pupils participating in their own competition. Through the RCSLT Giving Voice campaign, politicians, parents/guardians and speech and language therapists are working closely to raise awareness of the importance of communication.”